Suffolk - 5.1.20

I joined Brendon Fagan and Terry Smith for a dawn to dusk days birding to Suffolk to try and boost the year list.

First stop was Freston in the shadow of the Orwell Bridge hoping to see a Long-tailed Duck. In the hour or so we were there we failed to see it but did connect with 2 Great Northern Diver, 13 Goldeneye, 6 Knot and a handful of Red-breasted Merganser.

We then headed to Bawdsey to try to see the wintering Rough-legged Buzzard. Again despite looking around its favoured area we failed to see it but I did add Common Buzzard to the list and when I popped to the loo in the picnic car park I heard Goldcrest and when walking back to join the others I accidently flushed a Woodcock that was hidden in the roadside scrub.

As we were 2 minutes away from East Lane pits we went to have a look for the female Scaup that had been reported. Here we completed the hat-trick of dips for the day as there was no sign! But I did note 3 Red-throated Diver offshore.

Siberian Stonechat

Our penultimate destination was Hollesley Marshes RSPB where we were hoping to see a bird that once DNA results come back could become a new species for all 3 of us despite 2 of us having already seen one before! On the walk up I saw a Kingfisher which quickly vanished but once on site we were told its still here and within 5 minutes we all laid eyes on the 1st winter male Siberian Stonechat. Brendon had seen at least 3 and I'd seen one in Kent but since the species had been split into Siberian and Stejneger's Stonechat none of these were tickable so hopefully the DNA will say this is a Siberian and we can finally add it to our respective lists! A male Common Stonechat, female Marsh Harrier and a singing Cetti's Warbler were also added. Just before we got back to the car we scanned over the fields behind Shingle Street and saw the 3 Whooper Swan and I found a nice male Merlin sat in the field which was a bonus.

Whooper Swan and Merlin (dark blob on the right hand side!)

Green-winged Teal

Our last stop of the day was to my favourite reserve Minsmere RSPB. Without checking this could well be my first ever winter visit and it was nice and quiet with no Black-headed Gulls screaming their heads off on the scrapes! After a scan of the Teal we finally saw the male Green-winged Teal fast asleep and 2 more Whooper Swan did a fly-by. On the sea were over 20 Red-throated Diver.

A good day out and I ended the day on 84 species for the year.